‘Cancer has given me a little bit courage’: Manisha Koirala on her book and the roles she is looking for

In 2012, actor Manisha Koirala was presented with a death sentence: stage three ovarian cancer. In her memoir, she traces the journey of her long battle to survive

Living to Tell the Tale — Manisha Koirala

You beat cancer in 2013. Did you wait for nearly six years for Healed: How Cancer Gave Me a New Life (written with Neelam Kumar) to be published because enough time had passed?

I always knew that I would be coming out with my book; I’d kept a diary and made lots of notes during my treatment. A part of me wanted to tell my story but another part of me was very scared of how I’ll feel returning to the darkest period of my life. Ideally I’d like to forget about my cancer ordeal and move on. So, this book comes from a lot of introspection, a lot of digging deep down inside, and examining a lot of pain, both physical and emotional.

I’m not great with language but I like to tell stories. I know the events and the emotional landscape. But I needed somebody gifted with words. Neelam and I met a while back, and she’d wanted to write my memoir with me. That didn’t work out because I don’t think I was ready for it. Cancer would have just been a part of it, whereas I wanted to write about what a catalyst it has been in my life, for change. I give Neelam a lot of credit for helping me tell my story. She’s a cancer survivor too, so she knew exactly what my experience had been like, what my fears were.

You’ve been very unsentimental in recounting those harrowing months, from the moment you were diagnosed, to liquidating your assets to pay for your treatment in New York; the pain of chemotherapy and watching your family suffer alongside you. Most of all, it seems that the cancer spurred you on to examine your life.